Greenpeace activists hold a banner reading 'Coal-fired power burns the climate!' and burn a symbol of carbon dioxide as they demonstrate on Nov. 13, 2008 in front of the Klingenberg power plant in Berlin. (AFP PHOTO DDP / THEO HEIMANN / NEWSCOM)
Report: Climate protests rising
By Eoin O'Carroll | 11.21.08
The Worldwatch Institute reports that climate protests are escalating worldwide, as more and more people join movements to block the construction of coal-fired power plants and pressure their governments to mandate greenhouse-gas-emission caps.
Worldwatch writer Ben Block cites recent demonstrations throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States. He quotes a clean-energy youth movement spokeswoman who marvels at the recent increase in participants:
“What I see is – in the last year – it just exploded and went from being a sizable amount of people, several thousands of very active youth all around the country, to just hundreds of thousands of young people,” said Brianna Cayo Cotter, communications director for Energy Action Coalition, a network of North American youth climate activists. “I feel like the floodgates are about to open. We have the numbers. We have the skills. We have the passion.”
Mr. Block reports that, in the United States, a movement against coal power that began four years ago has successfully cut in half the number of new coal-fired power plants.
The movement achieved a major victory last week, when a lawsuit by the Sierra Club prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to freeze construction of the roughly 100 new coal plants around the US. Coal power stations, the EPA ruled, must now take carbon dioxide emissions into account.
Civil disobedience
To curb the use of coal – the most polluting of all fossil fuels – activists often employ conventional channels, such as lobbying governments and filing lawsuits, but they are also increasingly engaging in civil disobedience.
In the Netherlands this past weekend, two Greenpeace ships blocked a dock at a port in Rotterdam used to unload coal, while elsewhere in the city, 90 Greenpeace activists were arrested after they chained themselves to machinery in an attempt to prevent the construction of a new coal power station.
On Nov. 1, some 25 activists in Sydney, Australia, were arrested after they chained themselves to a coal conveyor belt at one of Australia’s largest power stations. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the activists, who were members of the climate-action group Rising Tide, brought the plant’s energy production to a standstill.
In September, 15 activists from various environmental groups were arrested in Wise County, Va., after they formed a human barrier to block construction of a Dominion coal plant. Charged with trespassing, they eventually had to pay $400 in fines.
Activists who try to physically block coal-burning are still likely to face arrest and charges, but they have recently found some support in high places. In September, a British court cleared six Greenpeace activists of damaging the smokestack of a coal-fired power plant in Kingsnorth, England, in October 2007. The jury ruled that the activists’ actions were justified given the environmental damage caused by the power station.
In September, former vice president and Nobel Laureate Al Gore openly advocated civil disobedience to block the construction of new coal power plants. His call was backed by leading NASA climate scientist James Hansen, who testified on behalf of the Kingsnorth activists and said that he would have done the same for the Wise County protesters.
Police spying
As climate protests escalate, it’s no surprise that law enforcement is escalating as well, even to the point of engaging in questionable tactics. Writing in Grist this week, Mike Tidwell, the head of Chesapeake Climate Action Network, describes how Maryland police placed him on a terrorist watch list and spied on him in 2005 and 2006. Mr. Tidwell, the author of two books on coastal ecology and rising sea levels, says his group did not engage in any civil disobedience, just ordinary protests with signs and placards, but nonetheless had a police file labeled “Crime: Terrorism, environmental extremists.”
Maryland police now acknowledge that Tidwell, along with at least 52 other activists of various stripes, were wrongly placed on the now-defunct watch list, although they have not explained how they were listed in the first place.
Stepping it up
Despite fears of heavy-handed police tactics, we can expect to see more climate demonstrations in the near future. Many groups are planning on convening in Poznań, Poland, on Dec. 1 for the next round of international climate talks. Advocacy groups are calling for president-elect Barack Obama to attend. While this appears unlikely – in a message on climate change earlier this week, he said he would not go – he had promised earlier to at least send a representative to the talks.
On Dec. 6, a coalition of activists spearheaded by Greenpeace will gather at landmarks in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, and other cities for an “International Day of Action for Climate Solutions.” Protesters will display a 30-foot by 50-foot “postcard,” telling the world that Americans are ready to take action on global warming.
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2. wrobichaud | 11.22.08
Formulated? How do one formulate an Non Issue?
CO2 does not cause warming.( Not efficient Heat absorption)
CO2 is not a Pollutant.
CO2 is not a Poison.
These folks should use Carbon monoxide if they want to fight against a Poison Gas. Beside The Word Greenhouse gas is a Misunderstanding or lack of Knowledge how our world/Planet works.
To Fight against Pollution is a Great cause but CO2?
Protests are only on the Increase, if that is a fact, because of the Court decision to consider that kind of protest legitimate. IMO It should have never been permitted and should be condemned.
The next act of disobedience could be one with potential to cause not only great damage but a Life.
3. wrobichaud | 11.22.08
Formulated? How do one formulate an Non Issue?
CO2 does not cause warming.( Not efficient Heat absorption)
CO2 is not a Pollutant.
CO2 is not a Poison.
These folks should use Carbon monoxide if they want to fight against a Poison Gas. Beside The Word Greenhouse gas is a Misunderstanding or lack of Knowledge how our world/Planet works.
To Fight against Pollution is a Great cause but CO2?
Protests are only on the Increase, if that is a fact, because of the Court decision to consider that kind of protest legitimate. IMO It should have never been permitted and should be condemned.
The next act of disobedience could be one with potential to cause not only great damage but a Life.
4. Brint Montgomery | 11.23.08
The article notes that the movement’s numbers “just exploded and went from being a sizable amount of people, several thousands of very active youth all around the country, to just hundreds of thousands of young people [….] The floodgates are about to open. We have the numbers. We have the skills. We have the passion.” Well, that might be the case, but I worry — were such a large movement to really take-off, then there would be fringe elements that would inevitably take to eco-terrorism methods, such as vandalizing or even bombing coal-fire plants. For comparison, when anti-abortion groups occasionally gain substantial popularity there are always radicals who take the next step into intimidation and violence. I think it’s great that people are taking global climate issues seriously, but sudden quasi-political “movements” to force the market to move faster than its ready for will be counter-productive.
5. Gene44 | 11.24.08
Intimidation and violence to stop plants from producing electricity for the public be it coal or nuclear. I fear that if they are successful then no country will have electricity available for the citizens. Back to the stone ages, but, then it is save the forest so you cannot burn wood to produce heat. Oh well!!
6. Olivia | 11.24.08
I suppose the American revolutionaries were considered dangerous fanatics by the British. And I guess the Quakers who hid runaway slaves on the underground railroad were seen as a threat to the South’s status quo. Likewise, today’s peaceful animal activists who expose the truly violent abuses of slaughterhouses and factory farms are often billed as terrorists — at least by the egg, dairy and meat industries.
If it weren’t for the “radicals” in every social movement, there wouldn’t be moral progress in any nation. Those who use intimidation and violence do NOT speak for the vast majority of progressive thinkers and doers, so we don’t need to start using the very fear tactics that the fringe elements employ by suggesting that those who are standing up to the coal industry are eco-terrorists. The people Eoin’s blog is citing are not being counter-productive; they’re acting as a necessary, healthy counter-balance to the very venality, selfishness, apathy and other forms of polluted behavior that got us into this environmental quagmire in the first place.
And another thing: “radical” is a positive word; it means one is hacking off the roots of a problem instead of just lopping off the surface weeds.
7. Joe Lucas | 11.25.08
Does an increase in recent activist protests against proposed new coal-based power plants mean that there is increased public opposition to the use of coal? Obviously, not. In a recent poll of opinion elites, we found that 72 percent of Americans support the use of coal for generating electricity and nearly 70 percent of those polled believe that coal is a fuel for America’s energy future.. So the actions of a few does not indicate the position of a significant majority in the U.S.
Those in the survey who support coal’s use frequently point to energy security and affordability of coal-based electricity as their primary reasons for supporting coal. While, there is no question that new technologies will be needed to ensure that we can capture and store CO2¬ emissions from coal-based power plants, most people see the great progress that is being made toward achieving that goal.
8. Clean Coal is Myth | 12.04.08
@ Joe - really? I would like to see that polling data.
A quick Google search revealed this poll - http://solveclimate.com/blog/20080611/poll-94-americans-want-solar-energy-future-3-want-coal - stating quite the contrary. I personally believe that Americans are smart enough to realize the coal is dirty, will never be clean, and that we have all the alternatives necessary to transition towards a more just, clean energy future.
In the effort of full transparency…I work for some of the organizations mentioned in the article.
Joe, who do you work for?
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1. Dave Churchill | 11.22.08
If you go to the Reuters article link to this article, you do not find that the EPA froze construction of 100 coal plants around the country. What you do find is that the ruling certainly gives coal-plant proponents something to think about.
Having said that, it would be great if everyone involved in the debate could come to the table in a spirit of national pride and cooperation, so that a CO2 policy that works for the US can be formulated.